Rob Ellis

Perhaps Rob Ellis's most widely acknowledged work is that with PJ Harvey, with whom he has worked as producer, arranger and musician since 1990.
However, Rob is also very interested in contemporary “classical” music, having released recordings in that vein 'Music For The Home' Vols. 1 and 2, on the Leaf label. Where the first 'Music For The Home' album consisted almost entirely of pieces created and edited inside a computer, 'Music For The Home Vol 2' includes many piano pieces recorded ‘live’. Ellis’s idiosyncratic approach to composition has drawn comparisons to the work of Messaien, Reich and Cage among others, and has received plaudits in The Times, The Guardian, Mojo, Q, NME, The Independent, The Wire, Musicweek etc.
Rob’s own band, Spleen, recorded two well-regarded ‘fake soundtrack' albums for the Swarffinger label, and he has also recorded as "Christmas" with Tim and Roo Farthing of "Reigns" .
Since 1990, between extensive world tours with PJ Harvey, Rob has been involved with a wide range of other projects. He has worked as producer, arranger and musician on Marianne Faithfull's critically acclaimed album 'Before The Poison'; played drums on Charlotte Hatherley from Ash’s solo debut 'Grey Will Fade'; acted as musical director for ex-Tricky and Gorillaz singer Martina Topley-Bird; produced the first solo tracks by David Holmes’ Free Association vocalist Petra Jean Phillipson; and produced, arranged and performed on 'Senza Peso' by Italy's Marlene Kuntz. Danish band Kitty Wu's 'Rules of Transportation' album, produced by Rob garnered them a best new act nomination; and his string arrangement for Norwegian band Madrugada's song ‘Majesty' has received some considerable appreciation. He has also been very happy to work with such acclaimed atrtists as Laika (to whom Radiohead have acknowledge an influence), Placebo, Pooka and Swell.
Having completed the PJ Harvey 'Uh Huh Her' world tour just prior to Christmas 2004, Rob returned to Italy in the new year to work again with Marlene Kuntz on their follow-up to "Senza Peso" performing and arranging strings and keyboards at the Forum music Village studios in Rome, under the initially suspicious (as in, "I'll tell them if I don't like it") but ultimately approving gaze of the great composer Ennio Morrricone. After a brief sojourn in Sweden producing Kitty Wu’s follow-up album “Knives & Daggers” Rob moved to Italy and became a fully-fledged Marlene Kunt, playing keyboards on the live tour to promote the band’s new lp “Bianco Sporco”. During his tenure there, Rob met David Lenci, an extremely well respected producer and recording engineer whose studio “The Red house” in Senigallia prompted Rob to move permanently to this Italian coastal town. Rob invited Charlotte Hatherley to the Red house to produce her second solo album (co-producing with PJ Harvey cohort Eric Drew Feldman). Entitled “The Deep Blue” the album was recorded between summer 2005 and Autumn 2006. By contrast, a new Spleen album was recorded one evening in July 2005. Ten years after “Little Scratches” this new record, entitled “Nun Lover!” features Rob with Josh Klinghoffer (whom Rob worked with on the PJ Harvey “Uh huh her” tour), Cristiano Godano (lead singer & guitarist with Marlene Kuntz) and Giorgio Vendola ( a bassist whom Rob met at a street festival in Senigallia). All the tracks for the album were improvised "on the spot", with Rob adding vocals at a later date. The running order of the album retains the "running order" of the evening, and the album was left deliberately “un-mixed” to keep as much of the spontaneity as possible. The album was released in October 2007 on Sartorial records, NME commenting "it's Tom Waits croaking to an out-of-time jazz-blues band of spiders and ghouls. Spookily challenging, left-field fun- 7/10".
During that same summer, Rob contributed as a “talking head” to a new film documentary about Scott Walker entitled “30 Century Man” which was released to cinemas in April 2007 and is now available on DVD; Rob having contributed to 'Scope J', a song Scott had written for Ute Lemper for her album "Punishing Kiss". Rob was very flattered to have had this honour, Scott Walker being one of his musical heroes.
Autumn 2006 saw some of his live work with PJ Harvey attain less transient status, firstly a DVD “Please leave quietly” was released in August 2006 and then in October of that year a collection of Peel sessions recorded between 1991 and 2004 was released. Also, during that Autumn Rob contributed piano and drums to recordings for Mick Harvey (of the Bad Seeds) for his new album “Two of Diamonds”.
2007 has seen Rob working on further solo projects including more instrumental/electronica work but also an album of songs. Production/arranging work at the Redhouse studio has continued with albums for Italian artists Giulia Villari, Ogino Knaus, Musetta, and The Jains, Danish singer/songwriter Lise Westzynthius, Swiss post-rock band Kovlo and Norwegian artist Nathalie Nordnes.
Also Rob & Guilia have recorded a version of "This is the day" for a future The The covers album commissioned by Matt Johnson.
Musetta's album "Mice to meet you" and Lise Westzynthius's album "Siberian Mission" are to be released in November 2007 on IRMA records and Auditorium/a;larm music respectively, with the rest following in 2008.
Rob is intending to continue making the Redhouse studio his base for future projects. Watch this space for further details...
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